Friday, September 28, 2018

Speaking of revolver, been watching old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies. They resorted quick to gun play in them movies. Also, both Watson and Inspector Lestrade were absolute dolts. How Holmes could spend more than a minute with either imbecile is beyond me. Still, I enjoy the old movies.

I had a dream I was directing a movie. Don't remember the details, but it wasn't WWII. Yet it had a Garand on a beach at the high tide mark.

I think the Senate should confirm Kavanaugh. Using Holmseian deductive reasoning I thought this whole thing was a put up job on the 14th, and everything since has reinforced that conclusion. And I don't even like the guy. This has been the low water mark of SCOTUS confirmations, and Democrats should be ashamed.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

My gunsmith had a little class. For two hours he expounded on how to fit sights to dovetails. All sorts of minutia to consider to keep them straight, not mung up your slide, how neither the dovetails nor the sights are perfect from the factory, how the angles aren't necessarily sharp or the right depth depending on how worn the mill cutter was to start.

Well, I had already worked the rear sight I was fitting for a while. The metal of the sights is pretty hard, and my file will wear out pretty fast, but how many sights am I gonng fit, lifetime? I did some prep work on the slide itself, months ago.

The site was about a quarter of the way into the slide.

So, hours of filing, two hours of further instruction and he looks at my work. "You are doing great! You can tell by the wear marks that you are filing straight. Let me see that..." He takes the sight, touches it to the belt sander, put the slide flat on the table and BAM BAM!... with a rawhide hammer.

"Ok, it's going in fine. Hit is a coupla few more times til it is straight, centered, and there is the same amount of metal on both sides."

All that. I was hours in and thought I had hours to go. And it's done in less than 60 seconds.

And it's good, too.

"Don't get mired in the details." That's a phrase that applies to nigh every part of gunnie-dom I've been telling myself lately. Know the details, yes. But when you do, DO. Gunsmithing, gear selections, shooting. Learn, know, do.

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

This was the text of a possible amendment, when they were writing the Constitution and Bill of Rights, approved by the Senate.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be
infringed.

Here what the House came up with.

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the
best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear
arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of
bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.

They settled on the Senate version in conference, obviously, and that is the 2nd Amendment.

But what if they chose the House version?

The wording shows where the Framers' heads were. The anti-gun types would have to alter their argument saying "it just means the States have a right to have a National Guard." Because our side would note that People is capitalized now, so less collective. Yeah, right

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the People, being the
best security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear
arms, shall not be infringed
Do a bit more algebra and the difference is:

composed of the body of the People, being the
best security of a free State,

versus

being necessary to the security of a free
State,

It comes down to economy of words at that point. Best vis Necessary. Dropping the 'People' bit as assumed redundant, maybe?

Monday, September 24, 2018

Ok, so I've been using my L Frame 686 revolver some lately, to get my DA revolver skills up a bit.

It's been in the shop a while back. The timing was off, and I needed an oversized hand.

Anyhoo. It's getting harder to get the cylinder to release. I go to the range and can't even open to load the thing. VERY short range session. 0 rounds fired.

But I know a guy.

Before that, however, let me take a crack at fixin' it. Maybe something internal is blocking the cylinder release latch. I can take the side of and see... Before that, lemme find that S&W revolver book of mine... where is it... how bout an internet search?

Well, there's yer trouble right there! What you bet my ejector rod is backing out a little at a time. Easy enough to spin it back (anti clockwise to tighten. you figure that out pretty quick when it doesn't get better).

Wish I had figured that out at the range.

But, after a good cleaning and degreasing I bet this calls for some blue loctite.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

They move folks around the cubicles in my office, so sometimes I get new neighbors. Recently, this happened. These three worked for the company for a while but in other buildings. All three, together. So I am the old hand in the department showing them where the printer is and the coffee maker, but they all have a history.

There was a revisit of a subject they clearly have gone over before.

It appears one is in the NRA, and the other two joke and call him a member of a terrorist organization, complicit in mass murder.

I, of course, kept quiet and listened. I am 'more' NRA than the NRA guy. I did tell them to get the FBI on the horn and turn in the NRA member if they really thought him a terrorist. Ha ha. We joke.

Saturday, September 22, 2018

Naw, naw, O'Rourke. GUN CONTROL is the new Jim Crow. Welllllll.... it's the old Jim Crow. It's the Jim Crow that didn't get written out of the law books but was instead doubled down. Gun Crow. Democrats have REALLY never wanted black people to have firearms. Can't have black people defending themselves. Republicans haven't covered themselves in glory, but at least they are a little wish washy about it.

Beto says law enforcement is “the new Jim Crow.” This kind of extreme rhetoric divides us on racial lines & inflames hatred. Vast majority of police officers are brave, honorable, and risk their lives keeping us safe; it’s wrong to smear them as racists. https://t.co/Ki8XBrYyj0

I've done a lot of simulator training. It's relatively easy to program in your own scenarios in some of them. I've done one where I walk up to a store front that looks like the gun smith shop and, hey, isn't that the owner's wife? SHE HAS A KNIFE. Harder to shoot her in the simulator because I know her.

But up in North East Maryland they are trying to come up with Sim programs that train cops to maybe not shoot every dog you see as a matter of routine. Which is nice. Poor pups. Not all of them need shooting, or course, and the police would rather not have to. Save money in lawsuits that way, too.

---

And Harford County got in the news after I composed this post. Killer, in a gun free zone, killing.

People from better parts of the country ask if it is one big urban expanse covering half the eastern seaboard round here. Like in Judge Dredd.

No. There is still country between the urban centers. Well country to ME. Where a farm when I was a kid a pace with maybe 40 acres of corn? There used to be cow pastures within a mile of me, wherever I was. Not since the 80s. Sure it was only 50 head or so. I had friends in High School that had farm chores to do.

There are fewer of them close, but drive 30 minutes and you can see farmland again.

And it's nothing like you see further afield. Our combines only do half a dozen rows, at most. The tractors don't have double wheels. None of these too close to here.

Maybe on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The flatter area west of the Appalachians.

And see all the whitetail? They aren't just living on suburban flower gardens. Plenty of 3rd growth forest about. Patches, but there.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

"Can I stop for gas on the way to and from the range if my guns are all in lock boxes and in the trunk, T-Bolt?"

Depends. Is the prosecutor at your coming gun trial a ball-breaker? If so, don't stop for gas. Don't run out of gas either. Or break down. Or get in an accident.

"What is a Maryland Designated Collector?"

Well, it's like a C&R, but for the state. I am one, but I have no idea where that little piece of paper is. The state police see me on the list though. Maybe I should get another one. No fee associated with the letter, so why not?

"Then what is an informal exhibition?"

It's me coming to your house and saying "Hey Fred, isn't this a cool 1911?" then leaving. Maybe. Depends on DA Ball-Breaker. The law if foggy on what constitutes an informal exhibition. Do I need to set up tables and have a beef jerky vendor? Doesn't say.

The Collector bit also helps you buy more than one gun a month. Which I have managed without declaring my status, so... The laws seem to be more of a guideline. Only deployed against ya when they want to deploy against YOU.

Even in DC, tho, more than 40% of gun cases are just dropped. You get arrested, arraigned, then home you go. Minus your defense fees. And God help you if you failed to appear at one of your court appearance when they were just going to drop the charges. Fresh warrants.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

But the law is written such that ANYTHING that makes you able to pull your firearm's trigger faster is the same thing as a having a bumpstock and now a crime. Well a crime after October 1st.

Put some molybdenum grease on your sear-hammer engagement in the 1911? FELONY!

Put some gun oil on the BOLT of Grampa's pre-64 Winchester .30-06? You can go mariginally faster cycling that bolt. FELONY!

Like most gun laws in Maryland... heck most laws, of any flavor... they are poorly written and subject to all kinds of misinterpretation. Which is why I'd never avoid jury duty for anything. ~cough-nullification-cough~.

Monday, September 17, 2018

"These are not the best of times to declare one’s pursuit of manly
ideals. Masculinity, or at least the toxic manifestations of it, has
much to answer for."

Why not? I don't see a problem with it. Nor do my work and friends and family. And plenty of them are liberal. Maybe you need to stop hanging around folks that think like that, buddy. There is something wrong with keeping your head in that place. Some loss of faith in the very civilization from which you spring. Hell confidence in your very humanity.

Also, he mentions the liberal gun club. Frustrated lefty gun enthusiasts that don't want to restrict magazines, ban AR's, or be associated in ANY WAY with the NRA. But the only difference with their postions and the NRA is that they really don't have a problem with a nationwide gun registry. I guess they haven't come around to grokking "Registration = Confiscation" just yet. Oh, and they'd NEVER vote for a political conservative, obviously. So, they'd reject Reagan and Scalia and Thomas and Kavenaugh. They think the NRA and GOP are the same thing, and the NRA is captured by the Greed Gun Industry. Naw. I'm the NRA. It's not that the NRA is in lock step with the GOP. It's that the Democrats never put forward a truly progun candidate anymore that reliably votes that way. If they ever do one the Liberal Gun Club be surprised when the hated NRA supports that Dem.
You know, the LBC even support national CCW reciprocity? They want a qualifications floor, so a Pennsylvania CCW won't be valid nationwide, but a Utah one might. Good for them.

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Yup, right next door. Six miles from where I sit. What this sounds like is Cruz had words with someone and the cops were called and took notice. Well, that call is on the log, and they are certainly gonna look for something. And something they found, so downtown one of the loud arguers goes. Happens to be a Texas boy, interning for the Senator.

Most people from Texas might find it odd NOT to find ammo in someone's car. In fact, this boy from the Maryland suburbs has a box of 9mm in the car that's been there a week and a half. No gun, mind you. Just the box of American Eagle 115 grain.

And I'd not think twice about venturing over the line into DC. Because I rarely do things that would involve the police. But that's not smart. Someone could rear end my truck and bingo, police response. An over zealous cop might notice the red box on the blue seat. Now I am cross threaded with the Metropolitan Police Department.

99 times out of a hundred, don't even worry. That one time... LOOK OUT.

I bet intern gets a slap on the wrist. And would if his boss was Cruz or the assistant deputy Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and a holdout from the previous admin. Or if he had been some suburban Maryland middle aged man. But they CAN make an example of him. It's up to DC officials.

But the laws in DC are onerous and we need to strengthen protectiong with federal reciprocity and boosting FOPA.

"That's not very libertarian federalist of you, T-Bolt."

Yeah? Well, fire with fire. There is a long tradition of the Feds intervening when civil rights are being trampled in this country.

And. They are gonna lose their minds if RBG falls down the stairs next month. Have you heard her lately? "She strong! Like a super hero!" No. She is feeble. A gust of wind could take her straight to heaven.

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Back when I started this blog I had an M1 and a S&W L-Frame, pretty much. I vastly over estimated how much .357 I'd practice with regularly. There is a .50 cal ammo box full of Mag Tech .357 I got 10 years ago.

It is nice seeing the low price tag on the boxes.

What the heck. Not like it will get moldy or go stale. I do have a 1894C and most of these are semi-jacketed, so they work good with that carbine. Eventually it will get used. Or I'll die in 30 years and someone else will figure out something.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

All full size revolver work. Performance the same as last time. A miss or two at 25 yards. A little high and right. Got live fire training coming up on Saturday, let's see if I can improve something. If the hurricane don't cancel it.

Three yellow 'misses' were all 25 yard body shots, though you can see I shift a bit right on the 8 yard head shots anyway.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

We didn't get the righteous justice I wanted and felt was the country's due. We are still in conflict, but not really looking to victory, just looking to end it. We didn't expand it and grind radical jihadist underfoot in such a manner making their tactic of attacking the non-Muslim world for any reason unthinkable to them for at least a century.

That's the bad.

The good is we have Mattis at DoD, and a president that gives that crusty, yet moral, warhorse his head. The other good is Iran looks internally shaky again, and that is a terrorist thorn we have suffered too long. Maybe something will finally come of that, and the mullahs will collapse under their own tyrannical weight.

I keep saying I'm not gonna blog the anniversary. Yet here I am.

I wasn't. Other people are forgetting it. I might as well, too. Stop holding the grudge. But heck, I won't buy a Japanese car, still, because of what they did to my Grandpa.

It HAS been 17 years. I imaging 11/11 was a little different in 1935 than it was in 1919. I should account for that. Lotta water under the bridge then, a lot now. Back then they had tear gassed war veterans for daring to ask for their bennies a few years prior. A different world in 1935, a different world in 2018. Maybe I need to adjust.

Monday, September 10, 2018

Do you HAVE to keep a storefront and be a gunsmith? There's gotta be a way to work on guns and be an FFL (you are intaking firearms, transferring possession to yourself and back again.), yet NOT have to have display tables and a cash register and whatnot.

I guess my gunsmith is in the bidness of MAKING brand new guns, so he has to FFL up in there. Storefront and public hours and all.

Which is bad for him, as he is a curmudgeon.

Hmmm. You could partner up with a store, and use that guy. But then you have to deal with another irascible gunnie that owns a store. Oil and water.

Sunday, September 9, 2018

Ever seen them? They are beautiful. Certainly to me, and I bet to some of you.

You see em advertised in those reprints of the Montgomery Ward and Sears catalogs from 1906 or so.

And they are for sale at gunshows with other antique items.

The conventional wisdom you hear from gun store clerks around the ol' pot belly stove, jawin', about them old shotties is don't you dare shoot em! They were made for black powder cardboard cartridges. If you put something in there with modern smokeless powder you'll just blow up them barrels!

Meh. Sound like bushwa to me.

If I was a gun manufacture from around 1912 I'd spread that word around too. "Don't shoot grand daddy's shotgun! Or even daddy's! What with the new gunpowder what you need are some of these new fangled all steel barrels that we just happen to sell. And forget what we said about them damascus barrels back 15 years ago when we sold you that. That we had ad copy then that we loaded it with a proof round with 5 times the normal measure of powder to test every gun barrel...."

You are more likely to break the old stock that to break that old barrel.

If I had one, I'd shoot it. Prolly for clays only though, out of an abundance of caution. Rock dove. Pheasant. I don't think goose hunting is the way to go. Or deer, in my case. But #7 birdshot, sure. Well, if the gun was made by an American or English maker. Something churned out by the Ottoman's is another matter.

Saturday, September 8, 2018

There is a Frederick Douglass commemorative train ride from Baltimore to New York going on. I heard about it on National Public Radio today. The announcer told me it was commemorating his escape to freedom. And she said it happened over one hundred years ago.

Yes. That is technically correct. That moment in history did happen over 100 years ago. True. But that is not as helpful as she think in pinpointing the date of his flight.

But the train ride is commemorating his presumed birth year. Not his flight. And, no, he wasn't born into slavery a little over 100 years ago. No, closer to 200. Since this is a BICENTENNIAL celebration, NPR.

I double this lady telling me this was even alive in 1976 to remember that bicentennial.

First, I warmed up with two 10 round magazines full of Hudson H9. And I had the flinchies from the start. Not gonna be my day. Shoulda packed up and walked around the block. AE 115 gr. 240 rounds since bought. 123 since last malfunction.

It made a line from the center straight down and then veered right. The second mag was a bit better, but not much.

Now I was here to do revolver work. Many reasons.

My revolver shooting has improved as regular pistol work has improved, despite being a totally different pull. I want to reinforce that

I don't practice with a revolver enough. And since I carry with one a lot, maybe that's not a good idea.

I don't thus practice reloading with a speed strip either, and all the reloading was done with one to make it more... handy? Usual? Familiar? Better.

I rarely shoot out at 25 yards with a revolver. That's a recent thing with a semi-auto for me, and I want to see if I can be as successful with a revolver's double action as I am with a semi trigger.

Not shabby. Quality dropped off over time (not pictured). I realized I was shooting with +P ammo. Which is fine, but since I came there with some flinchies, +P didn't help settle me down. Now regular .38 out of a 6 inch L-frame? THAT feels gentle. Next session will be more J-Frame.

Friday, September 7, 2018

I think I am a different shooter than I once was. Before all the training. Before I got better at it.

If you put a .45 and a 9mm on a bench and let me try both of the, the 9mm felt easier to shoot. Gentle. Almost like a .22 compared to the larger caliber. Well, maybe not that gentle, but noticeable.

Now? One of my biggest disappointments about getting a heavier 9mm pistol was that its recoil felt no gentler than a standard 1911. I was expecting easier recoil control leading to faster accurate shots. It just feels about the same. Same with other 9mm pistols, not just that first one.

I don't know. Maybe getting better made the .45 seem gentler because of improved shooting technique and the 9mm is as gentle as it ever was.

Thursday, September 6, 2018

So which products do we have to avoid? JUST because of an anti-gun-rights stance, I don't want to get into the weeds and list folks that just hate us for general Social Justice Warfare reasons.

Specifically "they came out against the 2nd Amendment specifically and now I don't wanna give them my money because of that."

So, not Nike, cuz that is just football-cop-flag stuff. But Levi's, yes. Yeti coolers.

Bank of America. I know that because I still use them to pay my water and gas and electric bill.

Not Waffle House. Anti-carry is bad, yes, but it's not anti-gun, necessarily, outside of Waffle House.

Does Under-Armor count? They dropped sponsorship for a hunter that went hunting with a spear, and that cause a viral vegan uproar somehow. I guess not.

Dick's Sporting Goods, most definitely.

Smith and Wesson in the Clinton years when that British corporation owned them, but not now.

Ugh, it's so hard to keep track. I don't wanna. Some places list SCORES of stuff to eschew. Or more. Can somebody be in charge of this? Pick the worst 10 companies that are the most virulent anti-2A that sell products and services that would be badly hurt if a portion of 65 million gun owners stopped buying. Update the list as time goes by and companies go up or down in their level of Constitutional treachery.

Me? Double ugh. I dunno if I have the energy. Plus no one reads this except YOU four folks. Hi, by the way. Thanks for stopping by. Please hit my invisible non-existent tip jar and patronize ALL my advertisers. ("You wear THAT in public, do ya?")

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Ugh, it might have been a mistake for this to be my first 9mm. Well, second.

Don't get me wrong. I really like it. It looks snazzy, it shoots just fine, and it's fun. And I don't need to shop for a better trigger for it. I'm not looking to unload it.

But I have lots of guns and it takes up a spot. A S&W M&P has a lot more holster offerings and other after market support. Coulda got 2 for the price of a Hudson. Now I still need a couple M&Ps and also have a Hudson. Plus I kinda want to play with an RIA .22 TCM, which is ALSO a 9mm. And I have the 1911 9mm.

How did I go from zero 9mm to potentially 6? Pump the brakes!

Like I said, the gun safe is a fixed space. And I sold off all my .40s. At least I managed to sell off guns.

Sometime I wish the only firearms I owned were three decent .45 1911s, and that's it.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

When I go into a gun store for the first time I like to see if they have a lefty bolt action on the wall. Never seen one.

Then I ask them if they will order one for me. Remember, they don't know me from Adam's off ox.

The answer is invariably no or some sort of hedge. "Just what you see up there, pal."

I've never asked a gun store I have established a relationship with. I bet they'd say yes, now, but I am already a bit salty about the initial turn-down.

None are will to order Caspian frames for me, either. Even stores that know me.

But. I am willing to bet a goodly number would order a Browning BLR for me, if asked, tho. Especially in a commoner caliber. ".308, fine. .22 Hornet, get out of my store."

I swear, I have no idea how gun stores would stay in business if it weren't for Gun Banners. Because of the 1968 Gun Control Act they are sort frozen in amber with how they conduct business with the ATF books and what not, with standard gun store clerk surliness, and general unhelpful behavior... A lot still refuse to do a transfer with gunbroker. "Just buy what you see on the wall, buddy, or get out."

Now I know what you are. "But gun store X isn't like that! Go to them!" First of all, they might be 'like that'. Second of all, NONE should be 'like that'. In an ideal world. Third, you know I buy guns on occasion, I have managed to manage my gun purveyors.

Gun stores close all the time. Capitalism works like that. But there seems to be little feedback where the lessons of the closed store are learned by the open or opening store. Plus the aforementioned panic-buy waves, as regular as the tides, keeps em afloat a bit longer than otherwise.

Monday, September 3, 2018

Not a tacticool bolt action sniper rifle, in case the tree of Liberty needs watering, or the zombies finally rise, or you get to go to Africa and stalk a Cape Bussaflo?

Yeah, when I started this blog that was a possibility. Fighting with a rifle. I was younger, I remembered my 30s, and injuries had yet to really catch up to me. It wasn't doable, in reality, really, but it was feasible.

As for traipsing about Africa in short khaki pants, knees are scratched, and making a ton and a quarter of wild mean cattle angry with me armed with only a .308? Madness.

Anyway, what was feasible once is much less feasible now. I don't like lying on the ground because it entails sometime in the relatively near future I will have to get back up again. If forced to throw a punch my punching arm is as week as an asthmatic 12 year old boy now. Thanks neuropathy. And I am way too fat. I was too fat 10 years ago. I was too fat training to be a Naval Aviator 25+ years ago.

At my peak of ability I could do 7 pullups. That was age 27.

AR15s are much more attractive to me now. They are lighter. But I am not going on a patrol with one with this body. Not and be much more than a burden to the people I am with. I stopped smoking not because I wanted to, but because I was done with it dragging me down and had to.

And thank goodness someone invented the pistol. I can LOOK as formidable (well almost) as I did when I was 27, but with a pistol I am much more dangerous as I was back then, full of beans and vinegar.

So, in the decision between tactical neato sniper rifle and lever action hunting rifle... I might as well go hunting rifle.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

They make few bolt action lefty rifles. And no one like Remington anymore, and because of that new Savages are under pressure...

What about a NEW lever gun? I took a chance on a used one and got burned. But Browning has the BLR. If there is something up with that it's under 'warranty'.

Anyone ever use one? Thoughts?

Oooo, the takedown version is setup with Scout scopes in mind.

"The barrel on BLR Takedown models is factory drilled and tapped for an
optional Browning forward-mounted scout-style scope base to provide a
rock-solid optics mounting platform, allowing you to remove the barrel
for transportation and storage without losing your scope’s zero."

Good Advice

"You never select a shotgun as your primary anti-zombie firearm. It's great for onesy twosey, but zombies travel in hordes. The reload time is onerous, and the ammo, while effective, is heavy and bulky and short ranged."

Big Mistake for Her

If Ginsberg had let Scalia put the words "strict scrutiny" in Heller and Hillary said "Gun control is just not going to be a priority for my administration," Hillary would have been elected President.

About Me

Preamble

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.